Advanced ceramic sponge materials with temperature-invariant high compressibility are urgently needed as thermal insulators, energy absorbers, catalyst carriers, and high temperature air filters. However, the application of ceramic sponge materials is severely limited due to their complex preparation process. Here, we present a facile method for large-scale fabrication of highly compressible, temperature resistant SiO 2-Al 2 O 3 composite ceramic sponges by blow spinning and subsequent calcination. We successfully produce anisotropic lamellar ceramic sponges with numerous stacked microfiber layers and density as low as 10 mg cm −3. The anisotropic lamellar ceramic sponges exhibit high compression fatigue resistance, strain-independent zero Poisson's ratio, robust fire resistance, temperatureinvariant compression resilience from −196 to 1000°C, and excellent thermal insulation with a thermal conductivity as low as 0.034 W m −1 K −1. In addition, the lamellar structure also endows the ceramic sponges with excellent sound absorption properties, representing a promising alternative to existing thermal insulation and acoustic absorption materials.
Crystalline-amorphous composite have the potential to achieve high strength and high ductility through manipulation of their microstructures. Here, we fabricate a TiZr-based alloy with micrometer-size equiaxed grains that are made up of three-dimensional bicontinuous crystalline-amorphous nanoarchitectures (3D-BCANs). In situ tension and compression tests reveal that the BCANs exhibit enhanced ductility and strain hardening capability compared to both amorphous and crystalline phases, which impart ultra-high yield strength (~1.80 GPa), ultimate tensile strength (~2.3 GPa), and large uniform ductility (~7.0%) into the TiZr-based alloy. Experiments combined with finite element simulations reveal the synergetic deformation mechanisms; i.e., the amorphous phase imposes extra strain hardening to crystalline domains while crystalline domains prevent the premature shear localization in the amorphous phases. These mechanisms endow our material with an effective strength–ductility–strain hardening combination.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.